September 8, 2023
ABRF Members,
ABRF will join more than 350 national organizations and institutions on Capitol Hill next week to deliver a resounding message on the critical role that Core facilities play in the research infrastructure.
You can help by contacting your members of Congress (House and Senate) to remind them about the impact of NIH funding on your work and your institution.
Key messages for this year's Rally are:
We thank Congress for providing NIH with an increase of $17 billion over the last eight years, or 58%, including an increase of $2.5 billion in FY 2023. We are grateful for Congress' sustained efforts to make funding medical research a national priority, and we ask to continue this momentum in FY 2024.
We also deeply appreciate the Senate Appropriations Committee's bipartisan bill that preserves funding for medical research and reverses the House's proposed cuts. To capitalize on the abundance of scientific opportunity, strengthen our medical research workforce, drive economic growth, and ensure that we continue Congress' investment in restoring the purchasing power lost after 15 years of inflation-adjusted declines, the medical research advocacy community joined together in recommending at least $51 billion for the NIH's base program level for FY 2024.
It is critical that we continue this momentum, so we call on Congress to provide the highest possible appropriation increase for NIH in FY 2024 and ensure that the funding provided is at least at the Senate Appropriations Committee funding level of $49.22 billion.
We also urge the House and Senate leadership to complete work on FY 2024 spending bills as quickly as possible to avoid delays and disruptions caused by continuing resolutions.
NIH funding is important to improving the health of patients across the world, advancing scientific discoveries, developing new treatments and cures, and strengthening our national, regional, and local economies.
Medical research funded through the NIH, the largest source of public funding for medical research in the world, has been a driving force behind many decades of advances that have improved the health of people in every state and community, providing cures and hope for patients and caregivers.
Thanks in large part to NIH-funded research, people across the country are living longer, healthier lives. These investments have led to medical discoveries, improved health outcomes, reduced health disparities, and alleviated suffering.
NIH funding contributed to 354 of 356 new drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration between 2010 and 2019.
Investment in medical research can reduce future costs of care. The vast majority of our health care dollars are spent on treating chronic diseases that could be managed more effectively with better therapies or, in some cases, prevented altogether. We can meet these challenges head-on, but to do so, medical research must be a strong national priority.
The funding provided to the NIH does more than just save lives – it fuels the U.S. economy and creates jobs in our communities. In FY 2022, research funded by the NIH supported nearly 568,585 jobs and more than $96 billion in economic activity across the U.S, supporting researchers, labs, hospitals and universities, and businesses large and small.
Specific actions you can take on September 14 to raise ABRF's voice include:
o Send an email to congressional offices
o Tweet at members of Congress with a message or post on the member's Facebook page
o Write letters to the editor and place op-eds in newspapers across the country in September
Sample Email content:
Robust, sustained, and predictable federal funding for medical research is critical to the health and well-being of our citizens, and for the economic security and global leadership of the United States. Our nation's policymakers have made funding for biomedical research a national priority by providing seven consecutive years of significant funding increases for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Please join a broad coalition of groups from the medical research advocacy community for the Rally for Medical Research Hill Day. This is an opportunity to work together to help raise awareness and urge Congress to make funding for the NIH a national priority.
Sample X/Twitter Posts:
Dear [@CongressMember],
- Please invest in the @NIH for the health & economic security of our nation. RallyForMedicalResearch.org #RallyMedRes #FundNIH
- Research means hope! Join the 11th Annual #RallyMedRes from anywhere in the US by participating in the National Day of Action at Rallyformedicalresearch.org
- Thanks [@CongressMember] for your commitment to medical research! Grateful to have your support for @NIH funding. #RallyMedRes #FundNIH
- #nih research is the basis for countless treatments, therapies, and cures. Sustained, predictable funding growth ensures that we can continue to provide hope for millions of patients battling life-threatening and chronic conditions. #RallyMedRes #FundNIH
- Today's science could lead to a breakthrough treatment for a chronic or life-threatening condition that affects millions. To deliver on that promise we need sustained, predictable funding for @NIH. #RallyMedRes #FundNIH
Here's a link to the list of Congressional office X/Twitter accounts: https://ucsd.libguides.com/ld.php?content_id=70770921
Feel free to use or adapt the images and messages below as part of your own stories to illustrate how Cores extend the reach of federal funding by supporting a diverse range of research efforts.
Thank you for your help.
Ken Schoppmann, CAE
Executive Director
ABRF
201 E Main Street, Suite 810
Lexington, KY
ken.schoppmann@abrf.org
859-514-9835
abrf.org